The Office of Geriatrics and Gerontology at The Ohio State University has launched a new, cost-effective, on-line distance education program called “Topics in Gerontology.” Whether you are a seasoned gerontology professional or new to the field, “Topics in Gerontology” is for you! What are the myths and realities of aging? What is the older cancer patient’s journey like? What should you know about sexuality and the older adult? You can learn about these and more in the “Topics in Gerontology” program!
Developed by interdisciplinary faculty from The Ohio State University, modules are categorized by level of instruction, making them appropriate for administrators, direct care staff in long-term care and health care, social service providers, clinicians, policy makers, and community providers who have interactions with older adults as they provide community-based services. Why not complete “Topics in Gerontology” on-line modules for continuing education credit while gaining insight into a wide variety of important issues of aging and strategies for responding? We guarantee you will find modules that are enlightening and helpful in your service to older adults!
Try out a module for free! Travel to the “Topics in Gerontology” program to try out the free module, register for more modules, and begin or continue your journey to gain knowledge to support your work and interactions with older adults.

The Ohio Association of Gerontology and Education (OAGE) has issued a call for papers for their 37th Annual Ohio Professional and Student Conference on Aging: Navigating Life's Transitions. This topic is especially important given the difficult economic times, income and healthcare coverage many older adults have in today's society. Papers and abstracts are due February 1, 2013. The conference will be held:

April 26, 2013
Ashland University
Ashland, Ohio

For more information about the OAGE call for papers and/or conference, click here.

Since 2002, the MetLife Mature Market Institute has collected national survey data on nursing home, assisted living, and home care costs, adding adult day service costs in 2007. And the most recently released survey information from MetLife indicates rising long term care costs across the nation as well as in the state of Ohio in 2012. Unfortunately, recent data also tells us that the cost of long-term-care continues to rise faster than the national inflation rate.
MetLife surveyed approximately 6,700 long-term-care providers, reviewing base costs as well as bundling of costs with add-on services such as transportation and extra meals. In Ohio, long-term-care providers in larger cities such as Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus were surveyed as well as other smaller towns in the state. Average costs of care in Ohio were recorded as follows:

Adult day services: $56/day or $20,440/year
(Annual rates for adult day services are based on 5 days per week)

Assisted living: $3,512/month or $42,144/year

Home care (homemakers, home health aides): $19/hour, $380/week or $20,520/year
(Annual rates for home care are based on 4 hours per day, 5 days per week.)

Waves of Change: Charting the Course for Gerontology and Geriatrics Education

Learn more about educational programs and models, key educational public policy issues, program growth and sustainability, evaluation methods, improving educational programs, collaborative opportunities, and strengthing learning experiences for students. Take a break from Ohio winters and head to sunny Florida!

Janine Overcash, PhD, GNP-BC has been in the health care field for almost 20 years as a clinician, educator, and researcher. She received her undergraduate degree in nursing from Florida State University, and a Masters in nursing and Ph.D. in medical anthropology from the University of South Florida. Dr. Overcash is a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner (GNP) specializing in geriatric oncology, and is currently the Director of Nursing Research at the James Comprehensive Cancer Center and an Assosciate Clinical Professor at the College of Nursing at Ohio State University. Her primary areas of interest are the care of the older patient diagnosed with cancer, with a focus on maintaining functional independence, performance status, and the ability to care for self, and assessment of the older cancer patient for prediction of cancer treatment tolerance.
Dr. Overcash has multiple publications including journal articles, book chapters and educational modules and materials. In a recent article titled "Retrospective study of multidisciplinary rounding on a thoracic surgical oncology unit" (Dec. 2012), Begue A, Overcash, J, et. al., ". . . evaluated hospital length of stay, patient satisfaction, admission to a skilled care facility, and the use of home health care or hospice in patients who received multidisciplinary rounding (MDR) compared to those who did not." One study finding was that the average length of stay for MDR patients was shorter (5.3 days) than patients who did not receive MDR (6.5 days). Review the article (linked above) for more information.
Dr. Overcash has also presented at multiple local, regional, national, and international conferences. Recently she traveled to Manchester England for the 12th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology where she presented "Falls and the Older Cancer Patient." More locally, Dr. Overcash was the key note speaker at the Nursing Research Day at the James Cancer Hospital presenting on "The Power of Nursing Research." And at the James Cancer Hospital Nursing Grand Rounds, she presented on the "Principles of Geriatric Oncology.
For more information about Dr. Overcash and her work at the James Cancer Center as the Director of Nursing Research, click here.

The General Internal Medicine Department and Office of Geriatrics and Gerontology are hosting a Spring Mini-Retreat for an OSU campus-wide gathering of faculty and staff in early May 2013. The goal of the retreat is to link people with like interests in an interdisciplinary way, building collaborations that may not currently exist around the many topics of aging. If you are interested in attending this event, let us know.
We hope to see you at the Spring Mini-Retreat in Aging!

The National Alliance of Caregivers (NAC) reports that 29% of the U.S. adult population, or 65.7 million, care for loved ones with chronic disease or disability. Caregivers in the United States are . . .

predominantly female,

an average of 48 years old,

typically caring for a relative, most often a parent,

providing an average of 20 hours of care per week, and

providing care for an average of 4.6 years.

Why not make a New Year’s Resolution that helps support the caregivers in your life? Take a meal to a neighbor, offer to pick up groceries for a working caregiver, help with transportation, and perhaps even more importantly, provide respite for the caregivers in your life. So, how do you start?
One web-based tool that might be of use to you is the Lotsa Helping Hands Inc. website, founded in 2005 as a web-based volunteer and caregiving coordination platform. Losta Helping Hands has launched a campaign called “The Year of Helping Hands” that invites you to make a promise so help a caregiver in 2013. You can help make a difference in the lives of our caregivers!

Dr. Douglas Crews, et. al., Professor of Anthropology at The Ohio State University, recently published Aging, Senescence and Human Variation in “Human Biology: An Evolutionary and Biocultural Perspective, Second Edition.” In this chapter, Dr. Crews reviews the evolution of human lifespan within biological and cultural processes, senescence and aging research, and survival and longevity across populations, species, and sexes. Did you know that humans are the longest - lived species within the order Primates?
So, what is the difference between aging and senescence? In his book chapter, Dr. Crews defines aging saying that all things age whether they are alive or not, and is simply existence through time. He goes on to say that senescence occurs only in living organisms, and is a progressive degeneration that leads to an increased probability of mortality.
Explore Dr. Crews’ book chapter on aging and senescence further and find out why Dr. Crews believes that longer and more active life spans for the majority of the human population seem likely.

Did you know that the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Employment and Training Administration has a Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) devoted to helping older, underprivileged seniors gain employment in later life through community service? This program was authorized by the Older Americans Act, and offers low-income people over the age of 55 who are unemployeed or have poor employment prospects subsidized, service-based training. Program participants are placed in community service at non-profit and public facilities, working an average of 20 hours per week. Some of the placements are at day-care centers, senior centers, schools and hospitals. The goal of the program is that community service training serve as a bridge to unsubsidized employment opportunities.
For a list of SCSEP programs in Ohio, click here.